Argument & Computation: Change and continuity
Argument & Computation (A&C) enters its seventh year, renewed in two respects:
A new access policy with a new publisher: the journal adopts a full open access policy with no fees for authors who submit a paper during coming two years at least. We are indebted to the new publisher IOS Press for its enthusiastic support in enabling and promoting this important transition;
A renewed editorial board: the editorial board includes both continuing and new members, reflecting the growth of the computational argumentation research field in recent years, as well as its rich diversity.
These renewal actions have been and will be driven by continuity in the mission as stated in the introduction of the first journal issue:
to develop a high profile journal that has a reputation as the place to publish work in the area, providing both a high-quality target for authors, and a reliable resource for readers.
Reviewing quality and timeliness, fast open access availability for accepted papers, along with the promotion of special issues dedicated to significant events or specialized topics, and of tutorial papers illustrating recent advances in the state of the art are among the key ingredients we will focus on in order to pursue this mission in continuity with the past. As before, A&C stands as an interdisciplinary journal by nature, lying at the crossing of the studies on artificial, natural and theoretical argumentation, acknowledging the richness of diversity and promoting integration.
In this spirit the journal aims to document advancements in established research areas as well as the development of newer research trends, both in theory and in applications, with a special eye on cross-connections inside and outside the field. To make this generic statement concrete, we give three examples of our expectations. First, we expect a further consolidation of argumentation models and of the study of their relationships with logic and probability theory. Second, we expect the border between informal and formal approaches to argumentation to progressively fade out, thanks in particular to the increasing interest in the study of argumentation in natural language and to the strengthening connections with other scientific communities like computational linguistics and machine learning. Third, on these bases, we expect applications of argumentation technologies broadening their scope, getting maturity, and eventually becoming of daily use in areas of wide public interest like argument-based personal assistants, online conflict resolution tools, and interpretation of evidence and data.
In undertaking the editorial enterprise, we benefit from the inheritance of the friends and colleagues who have previously served as editors-in-chief of the journal: Floriana Grasso, Iyad Rahwan, Chris Reed, Guillermo Simari, and Tony Hunter to whom we are indebted for their invaluable work and for their advice and encouragement.
As before, the journal is run in close contact with the Steering Committee of the biennial Computational Models of Argument (COMMA) conference series (http://www.comma-conf.org/), thus strengthening the connection with the COMMA community, and providing a high-quality dedicated venue for the dissemination of its scientific achievements.
To conclude, we quote our journal’s founders:
Ultimately, the success of any journal is determined by the support and commitment of its academic community. We look forward to receiving your submissions!
June 2016
